Men should have the same paternity rights as women!

A Finnish study proves that if men are more involved family life there is less discrimination against women. While Norway has 45 weeks of paternity leave, France has 2 weeks and Germany 0. We should be progressist as Scandinavian countries and harmonize it at European level.

I completely agree that today fathers' role should be fully recognised in our societies. But I must say our problem today is that many Western women today simply don't understand during the Twentieth century they achieved more rights than in the rest of last 2 millennia. How can they pretend to last at the top of the agenda of our societies? Ok, they still don't earn as much as men do. Ok, there are still too many women who are beaten, harassed or who simply don't see their rights protected. But in Western societies we can say the process of gender eguality is pretty achieved. The real priority are now the developing countries with some interpretations of Islam calling for a humiliating and passive role of the woman in the society. That's the real challenge many feminists should seriously afford today instead of complaining as they do.

Chakal wrote: "I find that it is the wrong debate. As regards with “paternity” or “maternity”, one cannot assert “the equal rights”! I think that women should have more vacation than men. It appears altogether perfectly normal to me, don't you think? What shocks me are women who take just the time to be confined and who come back directly to work, like doped by their amount of professional life. You do not think that one should give again more sense to maternity, rather than to assert rights to paternity?"

Mickey wrote: "“To give back sense to maternity” said Chakal: You speak like a German catholic bishop. Because the catholic church reacted in a very acid way to the idea of the Minister for the German family, Ursula von der Leyen, to build more cribs in Germany so that women can bind maternity and work. But what does that mean, “maternity”? That the mother remains 24h on 24h with its baby? I think it is more important that the mother feels herself well in her skin. And if she feels well while working, go ahead. And if a woman wants to be a housewife, that's good. But the woman has to decide and if she is happy with her choice, it is good for the baby. A mother unhappy is useless. And why don't we create enticing offers so that the fathers have the possibility of remaining at the house to deal with their children? Paternity is important!"

Katha wrote: "Absolutely right mickey. “Traditional maternity” does not exist any more except in the heads of paternalist machos which do not look at the opposite reality. In Germany there are only very few places in cribs and the child goes to the school only from the age of 6, sometimes 7 years. Would the mother be thus supposed to remain at home during all this time? We return at the time of Guillaume II and his stupid “3 K”: Kinder, Küche, Kirche. Not amazing that there are less and less babies. Norway is good!"

Chakal wrote: "Hum, it is the first time that one says to me I speak like a German bishop! I am for more cribs! No problem. The more there will be, the better it will be! For me, it is just necessary to put things back at their place. It is not men who make babies, but women. Then, the legislations should rather spend time to protect women than men in the matter. It seems normal to me. That men take their responsability in the family, that appears also obvious to me. But what saddens me, is the state of our modern societies, where one asks women to be super men in addition to being super women!"

Lolo wrote: "Hum, hum… and why not found a “leave of relationship” which would give to the woman as to the man an equal number of days after the birth of their child? Because it may exist some couples, where the woman is a workaholic and not the man… that must exist, not?"

Chakal wrote: "Why do you want to give the "egual" number of days to the man as to the woman? I am sorry, but in that matter, it is unfair for women…"

Spock wrote:
"But why not let the parents decide if it is the man or if it is the woman who deals with the child after the birth? If this right is allotted only to the woman one could never speak about equality between sexes. Just because a woman decides very quickly after the birth of her baby to go back to work, does not want to say that she gives him up completely. In our society women must work again quickly if they want to keep their job. - To give the right to men to a leave of paternity could help all these women who must for the moment give up their professional life because of a child."

Chakal wrote: "If you want to know, I do not like this concept of sex equality. Always this feeling, that with these claims and these long social fights, something happened to get wrong… I do not want to speak like a German bishop, but I remain always a little skeptic on this question of sex equality. To start, I do not like the concept of equality - I prefer that of justice by far - and then, I wonder sincerely if women do not pay a little expensive their search to be treated like men. With the advantages…. and disadvantages that it comprises! Lastly, just a reflexion, like this by the way… Are you really happier women??? PS: Be soft with comments, I am not a German bishop;)"